Beijing said on Wednesday the Chinese mainland must prepare to crush independence attempts in Taiwan, one of its strongest statements in weeks against the separatist forces in the island.

A senior Taiwan affairs official said Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian is "immoral" for gambling with the island's future by pushing for independence.

"In the face of outrageous Taiwan independence-splittist activities we must make necessary preparations to resolutely crush Taiwan independence-splittist plots," Li Weiyi, spokesman of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference in Beijing.

"Chen Shui-bian's selfishness in seeking re-election spares no effort and gambles with the immediate interests of Taiwan compatriots," Li said. "This is very immoral.

"Attempts by Chen Shui-bian and various separatist forces to split Taiwan from China are doomed to failure."

Cross-Strait tensions have been boiling since November, when Taiwan's "parliament" passed a bill to permit referendums. Chen then said he would hold a referendum alongside the March election calling on the mainland to remove its missiles aimed on Taiwan. 

Li said some recent moves on Taiwan were "serious provocations" and called Taiwan's defensive referendum an attempt to "split the motherland."

"The difference in social systems between the two sides of the straits cannot be used as an excuse to split the motherland," Li said.

Nevertheless, the Chinese mainland was considering allowing Lunar New Year charter flights in January between Taiwan and four Chinese cities -- Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Xiamen, he added.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected Taiwan's "Vice President" Annette Lu's accusations on Chinese mainland's missile deployments.

Despite a blunt warning from U.S. President Bush against Taiwan separatists to change the status quo, Lu accused Tuesday that mainland's missile deployments amounted to terrorism. Lu said a referendum was necessary to defend the island.

China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao Tuesday said Lu's accusations were bizarre and that the Chinese government opposed anyone trying to split the island from the mainland.

"No country would call actions to protect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity terrorism. So I think the comments of the person you mentioned are unreasonable," said Liu during Tuesday's regular news briefing in Beijing.

"We oppose any person using any excuse or in any name splitting Taiwan from China," Liu said.

(China Daily December 17, 2003)